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While I was at the market this weekend I came across some local ramps or wild leeks which has to be the first local produce that I have seen so far this year. Ramps are a member of the onion family and taste like a cross between onions and garlic. I first came across ramps last year and I have been hooked ever since! Not surprisingly I picked some ramps up as soon as I saw them and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. One of the things that I did with the ramps last year was make a ramp pesto and now I was thinking of combining the idea of a ramp pesto with another of my favorite spring vegetables, asparagus, to make an asparagus and ramp pesto. I kept the recipe nice and simple where I pretty much just took my recipe for asparagus pesto and replaced the garlic with 2 whole ramps for a nice kick of garlicky goodness. I tried my new pesto out in a pasta containing whole wheat penne and asparagus and it was really good! The pesto was vibrantly green, amazingly fresh and full of flavour! With this first taste of spring, I am now looking forward to the next few weeks and all of the fresh local produce that will come.

When we were on vacation in NC last week, there were ramps in the local market. I too had never heard of them. The description you gave is basically what they told me. However....they also provided some pretty graphic descriptions of the gastric aftermath ;0 Of course, we were in "Bubba Land" LOL!

Living out in the country, ramps are available for the picking. But loving asparagus as we do, I only cook it plain with a little s/p and butter - yum. I think that the ww pasta would be a little strong for the delicate fresh asparagus anyway. Homemade pasta is so much lighter (and cooks so fast!). . .

I am making this tonight since I bought asparagus and ramps at the farmers' market. Spring, finally! I have made asparagus pesto, but this sounds great and I have all the ingredients including whole what pasta (linguine in my case) and spinach. Your blog is amazing and it seems that 9 times out of 10 when I see something that immediately appeals to me on a food photo site, it links back to you!

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.